AHCA/NCAL 'Appreciates' CMS Efforts On Bundled Medicare Model, Looks To Next Time

11/17/2015

Bill Myers

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Washington, D.C.—Skilled
nursing centers have been left out of government experiments in bundled Medicare
payments for knee and hip replacements, but the nation’s largest provider
advocacy group says its members “appreciate” regulators’ efforts and are
hopeful their turn will come soon.

Officials at the Centers for
Medicare and & Medicaid Services (CMS) moved rapidly to finalize
a rule that holds hospitals financially responsible for entire “episodes of
care” when Medicare patients have their knees or hips replaced. The comment
period closed in September, and the final rules were published late Monday
afternoon: By federal agency standards, that’s overnight.

Provider advocates, led by
the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, worked hard to convince regulators
not to lock their sector out of the new bundled payment experiments. But Mark
Parkinson, AHCA/NCAL’s president and chief executive officer, found cheer that
the final notice “makes it easier for more skilled nursing centers to
participate, and creates an incentive for quality improvements.”

“We wish CMS had accommodated
our request for post-acute facilities to hold the bundle. It did not,”
Parkinson added. “But, we are pleased that CMS has indicated they may consider,
through future rulemaking, other episode-of-care models in which post-acute
care providers are financially responsible for the costs of care.”

Provider advocates have
predicted that the next few months will see a flurry
of regulatory activity as President Obama hopes to
lock in his health care reforms before the next election. For Parkinson, who has
taken a more diplomatic approach to regulators since taking over AHCA/NCAL five
years ago, the bigger picture was still in focus.

“We appreciate the concerted
effort the administration is making to shift outcomes from volume to quality,”
he said.